The Korgis comprised originally of James Warren, Andy Davis, Phil Harrison and Stuart Gordon. Primary their style was described as pop / new wave as a lot of British bands were at the time. The album was recorded at Crescent Studios, Bath, England, between October 1979 and March 1980 and was released in July 1980. It was produced by David Lord and The Korgis with individual song writing credits going to either James Warren or Andy Davis.

I bought this album because I rated the quality of its lead single “Everybody’s got to learn sometime” which made #5 here in the UK, but also #1 in France and Spain, #3 in Germany and Netherlands and #18 in Australia and US.

Side A

“Silent running” gets the album of to a good start where the bass and drums compete with each other with the low end scale of the piano. There is a slower pop sound for “Love ain’t too far away”. The bass is brought to forefront of “Perfect Hostess” played by Warren accompanying his vocals which lead into keyboards when bringing in the chorus. A more synthesizer keyboard based backing with live drums as well as a strong electric guitar solo in the middle. A more a harmonised vocal for “Drawn and Quartered”. The melodic and haunting “Everybody’s got learn sometime” is full of percussion and strings suiting the mood which reminds me in parts of “I’m not in love” by 10cc.

Side B

Lots going on in “Intimate” which is more of an attempt at a much more rock sound. This is a Drum and electric guitar lead track with a long electric guitar solo in the middle. The pop sound is clear in “It’s no good unless you love me”, with a good old fashioned catchy chorus “Dumb waiters” the title track is up tempo with a sudden ending. “If it’s all right with you baby” was a second single and got to #56 in the UK and should have charted higher. In the same vain as “Everybody’s”, again the string and synthesizer take you on the journey. “Rovers return” is an instrumental which sounds like its being played on an organ. Its goes at some pace and they’ve used every instrument (or synthesizer trick) in the studio that was lying around. Even has a barking dog sound effect. A video of this track is below.

The production is of quality as each track has instruments that can clearly be picked out. If you just want some melodic pop music this is for you. This album only registered 4 weeks on the UK chart and peaked at #40 which I think is a shame. Several tracks have been released over time from this album without chart success. The album was released by Asylum records in the US.